My roots are in Egypt
by Ryou-Ran
Summary: The gang goes to Egypt to visit the Ishtars and Ryou's father, but they do not know Ryou has taken the Millennium Ring with him and Yami Bakura's powers get a great boost from being near his grave. But that power has bad side-effects...
1. Default Chapter

Here's fic number four. The gang goes to Egypt to visit Marik and Ishizu, but they do not know Ryou has taken the Millennium Ring with him. Yami Bakura gets a big boost of power, but is been confronted with some bad side- effects.  
  
Yami Bakura: Side-effects? We're not talking medications here.  
  
Ryou-Ran: I know, Yami, I know. Too bad for you.  
  
Yami: Aahh, Egypt... the country were I come from...  
  
Yugi: I've never been to Egypt!  
  
Joey: Is that where they invented shish kebab? (drool drool)  
  
Everybody: --"  
  
Ryou: Am I going to die?  
  
Ryou-Ran: I'm not going to tell you. That would reveal too much, you know.  
  
Tristan: Are we going by plane? I want to be a pilot! (acts like a plane) wwwooooosshhh...  
  
Yami Bakura: You aren't a pilot, but an idiot!  
  
Téa: (nods)  
  
Marik: A plane? What's a plane?  
  
Yugi: One of those flying things, you know...  
  
Marik: I guess I have never seen that kind of bird, then. What colors are it's feathers?  
  
Yami: --" It's a flying machine.  
  
Marik: Oooh, a machine.  
  
Ryou-Ran: While you speculate about planes I'm going to start the ficster. Yami Bakura, you are going to do the disclaimer?  
  
Yami Bakura:Okay, but then I want the Millennium Puzzle for christmas.  
  
Ryou-Ran: Ryou, you do the disclaimer.  
  
Ryou: Ryou-Ran does not own Yu-Gi-Oh!  
  
Yami Bakura: It's not fair... no Puzzle...  
  
My Roots Are In Egypt  
  
Ryou was sitting in a plane-chair and looked out of the small window. He was delighted. He was now able to leave the haste of Domino City for a while and go to Egypt. And the most important thing: He was going to see his father again! A smile spread across his face.  
  
Yugi and Yami had been watching him. They had seen him smile and were glad. Ryou had been sad and a little ill the last few weeks and now he would be going to Egypt and see his father again he had completely lived up. There was even a little blush on his face._ "This trip is doing Bakura much good."_Yami said. _"He_ _looks much better than a few days before."_ Yugi grinned widely. _"Yes."_he said._ "He is very glad he is going_ _to see his father again. Actually it's kind of sad, don't you think, Yami?"_ "_What_ _is sad?"_Yami asked. Yugi looked up at him. _"Bakura's father is never home. He's always in Egypt. Bakura lives alone... alone with an_ _evil spirit."_he said. Yami's gaze hardened a bit._ "Yes, that evil spirit... You know, Yugi, every time I see_ _Bakura go home on his own I feel the urge to run after him and forbid him to go home. But what can I do?"_he said. _"Who knows what the Spirit of the Millennium Ring does to him when they're alone?"  
  
_"Look, we're touching down!"Ryou's voice sounded. His eyes were sparkling and his cheeks were pink. He showed his white teeth in a big, exited grin. Neither member of the gang had ever seen him that happy. They were glad for Ryou.  
  
When the plane had stopped and the door hadf opened Ryou immediately wanted to rush out, but a stewardess stopped him. "Ho, honey, you must wait, or you'll fall out!"she said. Ryou looked down and saw the mobile stairs hadn't arrived yet. "Oh, thank you, Ma'am."he said, smiling at her.  
  
Mr Bakura was standing on the airfield when he suddenly saw something white flashing. He saw it was something silver reflecting the light of the sun. He put on a pair of sun-glasses and saw it was the white hair of his son. "Ryou!"he shouted.  
  
Ryou heard somebody shout his name and saw it was a man with a blue ponytail and tanned skin. "Dad!"he yelled, ran down the stairs and to his father. The members of the gang watched him as he flew into the arms of his father and hugged him. Ryou was as tall as his father, but Mr Bakura picked him up easily and swung him around. Ryou laughed and looked at him with tears in his big brown eyes.  
  
"Aw, look at that."Téa sighed. She folded her hands. "It's so beautiful..." Joey stared at them and fell with a scream and a slump from the stairs. He landed with his nose in the sand and mentally grumbled and muttered to himself, until he felt two hands pick him up. He looked up and saw the Bakuras had each grabbed one of his arms and were lifting him back onto his feet. "Are you okay, Joey?"Ryou asked. Joey nodded sheepishly and slapped the dust out of his clothes. "Be a little more careful next time, okay?"Mr Bakura thundered and gave Joey a pat on the back that blew all the breath out of Joey's lungs. "Now let me help you with your luggage."  
  
"Oh, look, it's Marik and Ishizu!"Yugi suddenly shouted. He began to wave and hop up and down. Marik and Ishizu approached them. "Hi, Yugi, Téa, Joey, Tristan and Bakura."Marik said, began feeling rather silly and laughed. The gang greeted him and Ishizu and then went to the house of Ryou's father, where they would stay. Marik and Ishizu still lived under the ground and they thought the others would not really enjoy staying there for such a long time.  
  
Mr Bakura helped carrying the bags and suitcases and led them to the small house in which he lived. The house was even smaller than the house in which the Bakuras lived when they were both in Domino City. It was just a little bigger than Ryou's appartment. Ryou slumped down on a bed, after wiping a fat beetle off. Yugi, Joey and Tristan did the same thing. Téa would sleep in the livingroom.  
  
"How often have you been here, Bakura-Kun?"Yugi asked, as they unpacked their bags. Ryou paused for a moment and rubbed his chin. "Uh... I think... about ten times."he said. Joey dropped a book with a picture of a dragon on it. "Wow! You've been here that many times? This is actually my first time in Egypt!"he said. Tristan said nothing, but got a very pink blanket out of his bag. Everybody gazed at him. "What now?"he asked, a bit stupidly. "What do you think of that?" He pointed at a pair of white underpants with red hearts on them Joey was just picking up. "Uhh, those aren't mine."Joey quickly said. "They are Bakura's, ain't that so, Bakura?" He threw them at Ryou, who caught them. "No, these aren't mine."Ryou said. He held them up and more or less shouted: "To whom does this pair of underpants with red hea-"Joey quickly slapped a hand in front of Ryou's mouth, but Téa had just come in and had heard him. "Oh, Joey, red hearts?"she teased. Ryou's father came in too and broke into laughter. It was really a pathetic sight, a blushing Joey holding Ryou, with a hand on Ryou's mouth, while Ryou was holding up a pair of underpants with red hearts on it. Joey released Ryou, who handed him the underpants. "There's a drink for you in the living."Mr Bakura chuckled and left. They could hear him laugh in the kitchen.  
  
Ryou did not know the Yami inside his Millennium Ring had woken up because of the noise they had created. Yami Bakura did not know where he was at first. He sensed something... somthing familiar. He opened a link to Ryou's soul and saw Ryou was looking out of the window, looking at gold colored sand, blue skies, palm trees and... piramids.  
  
Egypt. Now Yami Bakura knew where he was. He was in Egypt, the country where he was born and had died, more than five-thousand years ago. He at a small window that showed his memories and saw a man with copper colored skin, white hair and a long scar on the cheek. He could feel the ancient powers running through his veins. This was where his root were. Yami Bakura was home.

* * *

This will not stay so peaceful for such a long time, don't worry. And Marik will get a bigger part, for the Marik-lovers.  
  
Marik: Oh, yeah!  
  
Ryou-Ran: Someone is really glad.  
  
Marik: I got a role... I got a role...  
  
Yami Bakura: You got a role in "the fire of life can easily be distinguished" too, remember?  
  
Ryou-Ran: Well, now I can give my fics more intelligent names.  
  
Ryou: There's sand in my sandwich.  
  
Yami: Why do you think it's called a "**sand**wich"? Ha ha ha !  
  
Everybody: --"  
  
Yami Bakura: I, as a collegue Yami, am ashamed!  
  
Ryou: I don't know if sand has to do anything with a sandwich. (crack, cretsh, scritsh)  
  
Oops, it's almost time! I hope you like the first chapter, but the next ones won't be so sweat! Please review! 


	2. Power of Darkness, power of

Hi hi, thanks for the reviews.  
  
To Peter Kim: That's a good question. I can see you don't keep your eyes in your jacket pocket. Enough sliming, I'm going to answer your question. Yami Bakura does not get boosted because he's in Egypt. He gets a boost because he's close to his own grave.  
  
And? Yami is near his piramid too.  
  
Well, according to what I've seen in the Manga Yami Bakura used to be a magician, even before he got the Millennium Ring. He was able to somehow withstand the power from the Millennium Items and he was able to play a Shadow Game, while the others needed their Items for that. The Pharaoh had no powers of his own, his powers camer from the Puzzle. We may assume that the... uh... remains of Yami Bakura still contain the power of Darkness. That's why he gets boosted and Yami does not.  
  
Seto: (bursts inside) Has anyone seen my trenchcoat?  
  
Ryou: Your trenchcoat?  
  
Seto: Yes, my t-r-e-n-c-h-c-o-a-t.  
  
Yami: We all know how to spell the word "trenchcoat", Kaiba.  
  
Ryou-Ran: I believe Hikari Lunar has got it.  
  
Seto: What? What would a dog do with my trenchcoat?  
  
Marik: Nibble holes in it?  
  
Yami Bakura: ?  
  
Seto: No! My trenchcoat! (tries to free his beloved trenchcoat)  
  
Wolf: Grrr!  
  
Seto: OW! MOKUBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! SHE BIT ME! (runs away with half the trenchcoat)  
  
Yami Bakura: Wow, good dog!  
  
Wolf: Grr...  
  
Yami Bakura: Uh... good wolf, I mean. (sees a mirror) Hey, what's that? (looks in the mirror, sees himself) WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! WHAT A CREEP! (jumps in Ryou's arms)  
  
Ryou: OO"  
  
Tristan: --"That's your own reflection, Yami Bakura.  
  
Yami Bakura: Oh. (sees he's in Ryou's arms) OO"  
  
Ryou: (drops him)  
  
Yami Bakura: (falls) Ow!  
  
Ryou-Ran: Shall we go on with the ficcie?  
  
Marik: Yes, yes, yeeeeeees!  
  
Ryou-Ran: Who's going to do the disclaimer?  
  
Marik: Me, me! (summons disclaimer with his Millennium Rod) Ryou-Ran does not own Yu-Gi-Oh!  
  
Ryou-Ran: No, but I really want to own Ryou! (hugs Ryou)  
  
Ryou: OO"  
  
Power of Darkness, power of...  
  
It was late at night. The boys were asleep in Ryou's room, Téa was asleep in the living and Mr Bakura was snoring incredibly in his own room. The two Yamis present were awake.  
  
Yami was exited to be in Egypt again. This was the country where he was born, where he had ruled and where he had died. He sat inside his soul room and played with his Puzzle. He held it upside-down. It looked just like the piramids outside.  
  
Yami Bakura was having a bit of a problem. He paced up and down through his soul room. He was having too much energy. But where did that energy come from? It had something familiar, but he could not recall it. And he had problems with the Millennium Ring too. In the afternoon Ryou had gone outside to pee, and Yami Bakura had tried to take over, but he couldn't. Something had stopped him. Yami Bakura knew it was his own power that had prevented him from taking Ryou over, but he did not know why. He only knew he was very pissed.  
  
"Rise and shine, sleepyheads!"a loud voice shouted early in the morning. Mr Bakura opened the curtains and allowed the light of the sun to flow into the room. It shone on the faces of the sleepy boys. "Aaaaw, I was having such a good dream!"Joey whined. "About hotdogs and things..." Yugi got up. "What time is i-oooooaaaaaaah..."he yawned. Ryou stuck a spiderweb of a head up and looked at a clock. "Five-thirty."he said. Tristan covered his head with his blanket. "Five-thirty? My god! That's so early!"he groaned. Mr Bakura laughed out loud when the boys reluctantly got up and went to the bathroom to wash themselves and get dressed.  
  
"Why did we have to get up so early?"Joey muttered, while splattering water in his face. "It's short day, Joey."Ryou, who was combing his hair, answered. Yugi had taken the Puzzle off and hung it around his neck again. "What are we going to do today, Bakura-Kun?"he asked. Ryou made a ponytail too, just like his father. "I don't know. DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD! WHAT DO YOU PLAN ON DOING TODAAAAAY?!"he yelled. Tristan stuck two fingers in his ears. "I've found an ancient grave yesterday. I haven't been able to check it out yet, so we can do that today."Mr Bakura, who had been standing right on the other side of the door, answered.  
  
Yami Bakura was alarmed. A grave? Could it be his... No, such coincidence could just not be possible. Unless fate had brought him to Egypt...  
  
The people quickly had breakfast and then went by jeep to the place where Mr Bakura had been digging. "Ouch, you're sitting on me!"Joey groaned. They were all stuffed into one little jeep. "My legs are cramped!"Yugi cried. "Ow, that's my arm! OW!"Ryou uttered. Mr Bakura had trouble keeping the jeep under control with so many people sitting in it. After a ten minutes drive they had arrived on their destination. The gang more or less tumbled out of the jeep. Joey kissed the ground. "I'm so glad I'm back on earth again... aech! Sand in my mouth!"he said. Mr Bakura walked to a small tent. The rest followed him. Ryou's father cleaned the tent up and stuffed it into a bag. He revealed a big hole in the ground. There seemed to be nothing special about it.  
  
Yami Bakura was sitting on the floor in his soul room. He could feel the hairs in his neck stand upstraight. He knew the energy came from the grave. He wanted to know what was going on.  
  
"What's so special about this hole?"Tristan asked. Mr Bakura stuck up a finger. "It has been covered with sand a bit."he said. "Let me brush it away and I'll show it. Ryou, can you pass me the broom, please." He swept some dust and sand away. Something white appeared. It looked like... "A bone!"Joey shrieked, jumped back and accidentally banged Téa upside-down. Mr Bakura looked at him with sparkling eyes. "Don't worry, the guy is dead. He can't hurt you."he chuckled. Joey panted. "That's the problem!"he yelled in Yugi's ear.  
  
They heard somebody pant and saw Ryou was trying to carry a heavy bag with tools over to them. Tristan went to help him, after sending Joey a look full of evil amusement. Together he and Ryou carried the bag over to Ryou's father. Mr Bakura took a closer look to the bone he saw. "It appears to be a piece of a knee."he said. "Can you give a little shovel, Ryou?" He and Ryou scraped the sand away and cleaned the bones, while the others removed sand, gave them tools and watched.  
  
After two hours they took a break. Joey was drinking coffee and was feeling hot. They were all sweaty, exept for Mr Bakura, who did not seem to suffer from the heat at all. Ryou was forced to wear long-sleeved shirts because his pale skin would burn easily in the hot sun. He had the advantage of his white hair reflecting the light of the sun, so his head stayed cool. "Oh, this is killing me!"Tristan sighed. "It is fun, but it's also killing me!" He slammed a can of cold Domino cola down his throat. Yugi was sitting in the shadow of a palm-tree. "Hey, I can see someone coming."Téa suddenly said. They saw a big cloud of dust coming in their direction. "It's a motorcycle."Ryou said. "Marik."Yugi added. The gang leapt up to greet him. Marik took his helmet off. "Hi!"he said. "I wondered how everything was going." He did not seem to suffer from the heat either. "Everything's okay, we're just a little hot."Tristan said. "Hot?"Marik asked. "I find it relatively cool today." He laughed as everybody stared at him in surprise.  
  
After the break they continued their work on the grave, Marik gave them a hand. He, Mr Bakura and Ryou slowly managed to completely clean the skeleton. The others were too tired to work and were just lying in the sun. Ryou came to join them after a while.  
  
"Oh, look, this guy did not have such a good ending!"Mr Bakura's voice suddenly came. The members of the gang rushed over to him as fast as they could. The skeleton was now completely revealed. There were golden rings around the bony fingers and golden bracelets around the ankles and wrists. An arrow stuck out from between the ribs. A few plucks of white hair were still attached to the skull.  
  
Yami Bakura was looking at... himself. The skeleton in that grave was his own. A dark power seemed to radiate from the skeleton. It drilled itself a way through Yami Bakura's skull and made him scream out.  
  
Ryou suddenly saw everything get black in front of his eyes. He felt a pang in the head. He let out a gasp, but camouflaged it as a cough. Nobody noticed.  
  
Yami Bakura was flat on his back on the floor of his soul room. He could feel the power of darkness enter his soul. The Ring on his chest was glowing a bright, golden light. His eyes bulged. He did not know if his spiritual body was able to deal with so much power.  
  
Ryou was in pain. His face was covered in sweat and he was trembling. He tried very hard not to groan. His cheeks had an alarming red color.  
  
Suddenly the gang heard a moan and a slump behind them. When they spun around Ryou was lying in the sand. His hair had gone loose and covered his face. "Ryou!"Mr Bakura cried. He brushed the hair away from the face of his son. He looked at Ryou's red cheeks and lay a hand on Ryou's forehead. "I think he's got an overheat."he said. He picked him up and lay him down underneath a tree. Yugi poured cold water into Ryou's half opened mouth. Ryou did not swallow.  
  
Marik was having his suspicions. Ryou could not have an overheat because he had been completely fit seconds before he collapsed. And his Rod picked up a strange power... a dark power he did not know, coming from Ryou's chest. The others turned away to place the tent above the grave again. Marik knelt down besides Ryou and pulled the collar of Ryou's shirt down. He saw a brown cord. When he pulled it he saw the Millennium Ring. It was glowing a golden light.  
  
Marik did not know what was going on, be he did know it was wrong. The Spirit of the Millennium Ring had to do something with it.  
  
Yami Bakura saw Marik was holding the cord the Ring was attached to. He did not like him do that, he knew Marik knew his weaknesses. So he wanted to "influence" Marik's thoughts so he would let go of the Ring. He prepared to use just a bit of his powers.  
  
"WOOOAAAH!"Marik suddenly screamed and flew ten feet back. An enormous jolt of energy had hit him. He rolled over the ground until he banged into Tristan's legs. Tristan hauled him to his feet. "What's your problem, Marik?"he angrily asked. Marik looked a little crossed-eyed, but quickly recovered. "The Ring... I touched it..."he weakly said. He could not remeber anything of what he had thought before. He only remembered the Ring had given him quite a blow.  
  
"Come on, kid!"Mr Bakura bellowed. "Do you think a necklace can give you a shock? There's going to be a big thunderstorm tonight, perhaps it was just static electricity!" Marik nodded, but still had his doubts. He glared at the Ring that had stopped glowing and was lying innocently on Ryou's chest.  
  
Yami Bakura looked at Marik in amazement. He had used just a fraction of his powers. Not even one percent, but it had sent Marik flying. He could not believe his own eyes.  
  
Suddenly a sharp pain cut through his head and made him drop to his knees. He did not know what was going on, he did not understand. His power had increased, but it hurt him. And it did not obly hurt him, it hurted his Hikari too.  
  
Ryou moaned and clutched with his hands at the fabric of his shirt.

* * *

So far chapter two.  
  
To Vejita girl: You know, I write "Marik" in stead of "Malik" for three reasons:  
  
As far as I know the Japanese name of the Yami is "Yami no Malik" and not "Marik". I can't help it, I always stick to the names used in the Dutch version of YGO A boy named Malik stalked me some years ago and I have vowed to never use that name for people or characters I like. And I like Marik.  
  
I hope this explains why well enough.  
  
Marik: I got a part, I got a pahart!  
  
Yami Bakura: And you got a jolt, you got a joholt!  
  
Marik: I hate you.  
  
Yami Bakura: I hate you too.  
  
Marik: Then we hate eachother! Isn't that good of us? (slaps arm around Yami Bakura's shoulders)  
  
Ryou: --"  
  
Please review, reviewers! Uh... what else are you a reviewer for? 


	3. Roots of Borgia

Tadaah, chapter three! Thank you for the reviews! Oh, that stupid keyboard is almost dead... YOU HEAR THAT, KEYBOARD? YOU'RE DEAD! Oops... don't take that literally keyboard, please...  
  
There are now twenty-eight episodes of YGO broadcasted per week in the Netherlands, enough to broadcast the whole Dutch collection within two weeks...  
  
Marik: Hey, what kind of statue is that?  
  
Ryou-Ran: That's Hikari Lunar. She is guarding Ryou.  
  
Ryou: ...  
  
Yami Bakura: She said she would not move, huh? (mean grin) And she's sitting at Ryou's feet?  
  
Ryou-Ran: Uh... yes.  
  
Yami Bakura: Alright! (sneaks behind Ryou, pokes a few fingers in Ryou's sides)  
  
Ryou: EEEEOAAAARRGGH! (launches himself)  
  
Ryou-proof ceiling: BANG!  
  
Hole-proof floor: BOOM!  
  
Ryou: (swirly eyes)  
  
Everybody but Yami Bakura: OO"  
  
Yami Bakura: (content) And once again we get proof of the Ryou-proof ceiling being Ryou-proof and the hole-proof floor being hole-proof. (big smile)  
  
Yami: --"Wow, Einstein!  
  
Yami Bakura: Who's Einstein?  
  
Yami: I don't know, I just felt like saying that.  
  
Yami Bakura: Oh, sure.  
  
Marik: Say, Yami Bakura, do you still hate me?  
  
Yami Bakura: Yes, indeed.  
  
Marik: I hate you too. Now we're equally matched!  
  
Yami Bakura: (slaps an arm around Marik's back and dances with him around the room)  
  
Marik: (steps on Hikari Lunar's tail)  
  
Hikari Lunar: GROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW!  
  
Marik: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! SHE BIT ME! Yami Bakura, help!  
  
Yami Bakura: OO What am I supposed to do?!  
  
Marik: Do whatever! Do something!  
  
Yami Bakura: (brings out a guitar) And once there was a lonely girl, standing on a mountain, jodeliiieeee, jodelaaaa...  
  
Yugi: (covers his ears)  
  
Ryou: --"  
  
Yami: OO"  
  
Tristan: This is ridiculous!  
  
Joey: My god!  
  
Ryou-Ran: --"Shall we go on?  
  
Téa: Go on?  
  
Ryou-Ran: The fic.  
  
Téa: Oh, sure.  
  
Disclaimer: Ryou-Ran does not own Yu-Gi-Oh!  
  
Yami Bakura: (sings) She does not, she does not, jodelahiti, jodelahoho...  
  
Ryou: --"  
  
The roots of Borgia  
  
"Ryou?"a voice came. "Can you hear me?" Ryou slowly opened his big eyes. He saw a blurry, blue and brown thing. When he opened his eyes further he saw it was the head of his father. "Finally!"the head said with a big smile. Ryou sat up, but became dizzy and decided to get down again. "Hi, Dad."he said. "What happened?" He felt there was something cold on his forehead. "You collapsed. We think you got overheated."Mr Bakura said. He took a wet cloth away from Ryou's forehead, held it in a bowl of water and lay it back again. "Strange."Ryou said. "I did not feel like being overheated at all. My head began to hurt and then I just blacked out." Mr Bakura's hand stopped in mid-air. "You did not feel sick, or something?"he asked. Ryou shook no. "I felt fine until I felt a pang in my head."he said. Both he and Mr Bakura cupped their chins in their hands. "I don't know what it is."Ryou said after a while.  
  
When Mr Bakura left the room Ryou had fallen asleep. Yugi looked up when Ryou's father enterd the living. "Is he awake?"he asked. Mr Bakura slumped down besides Tristan. "He was. We talked a bit and then he fell asleep."he answered. He took his chin between two fingers. "There was something strange, though. "he said. "I took his shirt off, and when I took the Ring of too the thing was hot. Like it had been lying in boiling water or so." Yugi's jaw fell, but he quickly shut his mouth again. Marik had a bit of an "wouldn't you know it?"-expression on his face. Joey, Tristan and Téa exchanged glances.  
  
"Yami, did you hear that?"Yugi asked the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. "Huh? Hear what?"a sleepy voice came. Yugi rolled his eyes. "Bakura-kun's father said the Millennium Ring felt hot when he touched it!"he almost snapped. Yami was immediately wide awake. "What?"he blurted. "HE SAID THE RING FELT HOT!"Yugi screamed in his Yami's ears. Yami flew about six feet back and banged with his shoulderblades against the wall of his soul room. "Ow, my ears..."he groaned. "But that means something must be going on with the Spirit of the Millennium Ring." "Yes."Yugi said. "And when Marik touched the Ring he flew ten feet back and shouted the thing had electrocuted him or something." "Electrowhat?"Yami asked, but Yugi rolled his eyes again and rather abruptly closed the soullink.  
  
Yami Bakura was troubled. He was boiling over with energy, but he did not dare to use it. Using it hurt him. But the problem was that not using it hurt him too. He looked at his hands and saw tiny sparks fly between his fingers when he opened them. When he balled his fists his hands began to sting. He opened them again with a soft gasp and held them in a pool of grey water nearby. The water absorbed some of the energy running through his veins, but not enough. The Yami paced around and did not know what to do. Perhaps he should try to find a way to relieve himself through his Hikari. He looked down at his Ring activated it.  
  
The people sitting in the living suddenly saw a bright light coming from the room in which Ryou was. Yami immediately popped out of the Puzzle and rushed inside, followed by the others. Yami suddenly hit his personal brakes, causing Marik to crash into him.  
  
Ryou was lying on the bed, tossing and turning. He moaned. "Noo, my head! Stop it!"he cried. Mr Bakura wanted to grab him, but Yami stopped him. Ryou began to change. His cries became lower and harsher. His hair grew wilder and his mouth wider. Mr Bakura's eyes grew to the size of diner-plates. "Ryou!"he cried. "What's going on?" Ryou bowed his head, so his bangs covered his face. "I'm not Ryou."he said in a low voice. He looked up. The people present looked in the eyes of Yami Bakura. But the eyes were different. They seemed to hold a strong, ancient power. His hair stuck up more than ever. He removed the blanket. Black stains were left on the places where he had placed his fingers. He stood and even seemed to have grown a few inches. He had an arrogant look in his blood-red eyes.  
  
"Blood-red..."Yami thought. "They used to be brown." Mr Bakura stepped forward and grabbed the hand of the person he assumed to be his son. "What do you think you are doing, Ryou? "he angrily asked. Yami Bakura wrenched his hand free. "Don't touch me."he snarled, but Mr Bakura grabbed his wrist in an iron grip. "Ryou, don't be ridiculous!"he snapped. Yami Bakura's eyes seemed to glow. "How many times I have to tell you I'm not BAKURA!"he shouted, screaming the last word. At the same moment a wave of energy emanated from him and sent all the people inside the room sprawling.  
  
Yami scrambled up again. Marik looked at him and nodded in Yami Bakura's direction. They saw the Yami was pushing a hand against his chest and was panting. Appearantly attacking them had hurt him. Yami did not dare to attack him, though, but Marik brought out his Millennium Rod. He pointed it at Yami Bakura. "Spirit of the Millennium Ring, I command you to release the body of your host!"he shouted, and the Rod began to glow, but Yami Bakura seemed to remain unaffected. He grinned and turned to Marik. "Even your stronger half could not beat me when my powers were weaker."he said. "You won't stand a chance." Marik grew really pissed and let the Rod emanate more energy. Yami Bakura was caught in a big flash of golden light. They saw him cringe. "Good, Marik!"Joey shouted, but suddenly the golden flames turned black. They surrounded Yami Bakura and did not seem to do him any harm. Yami Bakura had a slight smile on his face and his eyes were shining red. The black fire danced over his arms and hair. "What did I tell you?"he whispered to a shocked Marik. "You can't hurt me." He raised his arms and let the flames gather is his hands. He then lowerd them again, shooting them at Marik. Marik activated the Rod again and tried to counter the attack, but it nevertheless came through, though weakened. Marik flew back with a yell and fell in Mr Bakura's arms.  
  
Everybody was looking at Marik, so nobody saw Yami Bakura clutch at his throat. They did not see his eyes bulge.  
  
Suddenly the darkness radiating from the evil Yami disappeared. They all turned to Yami Bakura, who had fallen onto his knees on the floor. When he tilted his head red tears ran down his face. He gasped, lost control over his host-body and the very next moment Ryou was sitting in front of them, confused and not knowing what had happened. "What's going on? What happened to Marik?"he asked. He wanted to grab the Ring and take it off, but he retreated his hand with a sharp cry. It was so hot that it burned his fingers. He stuck out a hand to his father, but Mr Bakura backed away from him. "Dad?"he asked, voice quavering. "What happened?" Nobody answered. Ryou looked at them, eyes slowly filling with tears. "Why don't you speak? Why are you afraid of me?"he cried. "I... Yami... uhh..."Tristan began, but did not know how to go on. He could not go on. Ryou leapt up, pushed Joey aside and ran away, tears running down his cheeks like waterfall. The Millennium Ring floated in mid air for a second and then fell with a "cling" to the floor.  
  
Ryou was running through the desert outside the city. He felt the hot sand underneath his feet, but did not care. He could feel the heat of the sun shining on his back, but did not care. He was thirsty, but did not care. He did not care for anything.  
  
"My, God!"Mr Bakura screamed. "RYOU! COME BACK!" He left the house, but Ryou had gone out of sight. He could not find his son any more.  
  
Marik woke up, heard about what had happened and went to his home under the ground. A few minutes later he came back with a dog. He let the dog smell the blankets Ryou had been under, picked up the Ring and followed the dog outside.  
  
It took them several hours, but then they heard the dog howl and bark. They ran in the direction on the barking as fast as they could. They saw the dog was pushing his nose against a boy and whined. The boy had white hair. "RYOU!"Mr Bakura screamed, fell from a hill, rolled down and landed with his chin on Ryou's backbone. He was shocked when he saw Ryou's back was red and covered with burns. There was even a blister just below his shoulderblade. He turned Ryou to his back and looked at his face. He wiped some sand away from the corners of Ryou's mouth. Ryou's mouth had dried out and his cheeks had fallen in. Mr Bakura brought out a bottle of water and poured a bit in Ryou's mouth. Ryou coughed, stirred and then swallowed. Mr Bakura was relieved and kept giving him water until the bottle was empty and Ryou had drank almost a liter already. He then picked him up, careful not to touch the blister and carried him back home.  
  
Ryou did not want to wake up. He was been embraced by a soft, warm darkness. But very far away he could feel pain. His back hurt. He knew that if he would wake up his back would hurt even more. He could hear soft voices, far away. He vaguely recognized them as his father's, Marik's and Yugi's. His head began to hurt too, he began to feel sick, he did not want to wake up...  
  
"He's beginning to wake up."Yugi said. Ryou was lying on his stomach in front of him. He wrinkled his nose a bit and sighed. His face was almost yellow. Marik was just tightening the bandages he was placing around Ryou's back and chest. Ryou woke up with a reedy scream. "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW STOP THAT!"he screamed. He wanted to get up, but fell down again. When he saw the faces of his father and his friends he writhed, tried to crawl away, but he was too weak. And his back hurt _so_ much. Yugi stretched out a hand, but Ryou pulled back. "Don't touch me!"he shouted. "Don't! Why do you touch me?! You're afraid of me, aren't you!? Then why do you touch me?!"

* * *

Yes, I know, it's a cliffie. Heh heh heh...  
  
Man, did I almost break my wrist yesterday...  
  
To the Hikari-side: This may sound pretty psycho, but it's fun hurting Ryou because he doesn't deserve it. Yami Bakura is so evil that everybody expects him to die in a terrible way. But instincively we do not think Ryou will have that fate, so the fanfic writers just make a big contradiction. That's why it's fun.  
  
Though I can't help feeling sorry for poor Ryou, even though he does not exist.  
  
Ryou-Ran: You hear that, Ryou? I feel sorry for you. (hugs Ryou tightly)  
  
Ryou: OO"  
  
Yami Bakura: And what about me? Do you feel sorry for me too?  
  
Ryou-Ran: Sure. (hugs Yami Bakura too)  
  
Yami Bakura: Say, why do you feel sorry for me?  
  
Ryou-Ran: I feel sorry for you being yourself.  
  
Yami Bakura: OO"

Ryou: Heeh heeh heeh...  
  
Anyways; please review.


	4. Poison Ivy

Hey, here I am again, and I'll be away for four f-beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeb-ing weeks. So I can't update. I'll be back in the end of July.  
  
Yami Bakura: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!  
  
Marik: DITO!  
  
Ryou: Cough, cough...  
  
Yugi: ?  
  
Ryou-Ran: Hikari Lunar is chasing him. And Marik too.  
  
Joey: Marik is chasing Yami Bakura?  
  
Yami: No, Hikari Lunar is chasing both of them.  
  
Marik: (jumps in Ryou's arms) DO SOMETHING! SHE'S YOUR GUARD DOG!  
  
Ryou: OO"But that does not mean she listenes to me!  
  
Yami Bakura: (jumps on Ryou's back)  
  
Ryou: EH!  
  
Yami Bakura: She won't bite us as long we're holding you. She does not want to hurt you.  
  
Ryou: But I can't hold you! (begins to sink through the floor)  
  
Ryou-Ran: I don't have much time, so I'll start the fic.  
  
Disclaimer: Ryou-Ran does not own Yu-Gi-Oh!  
  
Poison Ivy  
  
"Ryou, calm down, listen to us!"Mr Bakura pleaded. But Ryou would not listen. He fought to get up, but his back hurt too much. He tried to crawl away. The people present read a deep pain in his eyes, pain that had been hidden and had now been revealed. On a certain moment Ryou stopped fighting, buried his face in his pillow and began crying openly. Mr Bakura stroked his rattling shoulders. "We weren't afraid of you, but we were afraid of the Spirit of the Ring."he softly said. Ryou gave a deep, trembling sigh. He looked up. His eyes were red and his cheek were wet. "I... I... did not know he h-had taken o-over!"he stammered. "I thought you were a-afraid of me!" The Ring was still hanging down his chest and was glowing faintly.  
  
Yami sensed it's energy. It felt strong, but the energy of the Yami, the life-energy of the Yami inside was weak. He thought the Yami was unconscious and could not handle the powers he had somehow gotten.  
  
Joey wanted to grab the Ring and take it off, but before he could grab it Yugi grabbed his hand. "Don't touch it, Joey."he said. "The Spirit is unconscious, but the Ring is still active."  
  
Hours later Ryou had slept a bit and felt a little better. He was even able to drink some water without immediately puking it out again. Yami Bakura, on the other hand, felt terrible. His whole spiritual body ached and he could not sleep. He did not dare to take over. The body of his host was weak, taking over and sending so much energy through it could endanger it. He had to wait until Ryou had grown a little stronger, but it hurt him so much.  
  
Yami could no catch sleep either. He stayed near Ryou, though he drove the Japanese boy crazy by that. He could sense the enormous energy radiating from the Ring. He saw it hurt Ryou, but nobody could touch the Ring. Everytime somebody touched it the Ring would burn his or her fingers. Ryou himself could not take it off either.  
  
Very late at night the light of the moon shone of Ryou's face, making his hair light up in a mystical blue color. The rays of the moon fell on the Millennium Ring and cooled it down. Yami Bakura had been waiting for this. He activated the Ring and took over Ryou's body. Ryou's soul was sent to his soul room, without Ryou noticing. Yami Bakura stretched his back and looked out of the window. He grinned at the moon, something he used to do five-thousand year ago, when he was a slave and the magic coming from the moon had healed his wounds. Now his friend helped him control the ancient powers of the skeleton Mr Bakura had taken home.  
  
Yami Bakura crept over to Yugi's bed and shook him. "Wake up, Pharaoh!"he shouted, thus waking everybody up. "I want that Puzzle!" He shook Yugi so roughly that the head of the little boy bounced between his chest and shoulderblades. "Aah, ow, ow, let go of me!"Yugi yelled. The Puzzle began to glow. Yami Bakura released him and watched the Pharaoh come out. "Finally."he arrogantly said. "What took you so long?" Yami placed a few hands in his sides. "You will never get your hands on my Puzzle."he thundered. "I will do whatever.." "... to stop you. Yes, I kind of know that speach from memory."Yami Bakura interrupted. "Let's have a match. A fight over Millennium Items holders." Yami's body stiffened. If Yami Bakura was now able to control the full power of his Millennium Item and the powers he had just gotten he would probably lose. "Are you scared, Pharaoh?"Yami Bakura asked. "I'm just a weak little ghost asking you for a little fight. That's all." A mean grin spread across his face.  
  
"A Pharaoh never turns a challenge down!"Yami bellowed, shocking everybody inside the room. "Wait, Yugi!"Tristan shouted. "You can't win!" Yami raised his hand. "Fate is on my side."he said. "I will win and I will find a way to relieve the Spirit of the Ring from his powers." Yami Bakura folded his thin arms and broke into laughter. Lightning flashed behind him. "Ha ha haaaa! You will never defeat me, Pharaoh! Whatever you do, I'll always cpme back! It's my destiny to haunt you and gather the seven Millennium Items!"  
  
Yami and Yami Bakura went to each stand in a corner of the room. The Items hanging down their chests were glowing softly.  
  
Suddenly a bolt of energy came from Yami's Item and hit Yami Bakura. Yami Bakura was thrown into the wall, but stood again. The pointers of his Ring trembled like they were electrocuted and then all pointed at Yami. A blue beam shot out of the eye at the center of the piramid and hit Yami in the chest. Yami gasped and was thrown to the floor.  
  
Yami Bakura loomed over him. "Too bad, Pharaoh."he said. "I'm going to win and then I'm going to take your Puzzle away from you." His eyes radiated a cold, blue light.  
  
The Eye of Sennen appeared on Yami's forehead as he tried to mind-crush Yami Bakura, but the attack did not do any harm. Yami Bakura chuckled. "You're gone, Pharaoh. I killed you five-thousand years ago, and now I'll kill you again!"he whispered. He brought his face close to Yami's . The pointers of the Ring stuck in Yami's chest. Blood began to run down them. Yami closed his eyes.  
  
But suddenly Yami Bakura did something strange. He stood with a start and clutched at his throat. A gasping sound came from his mouth. He leaned with a hand against the wall, eyes bulging, mouth wide open, struggling for breath. The Ring began to glow and the next moment Ryou was standing there, not able to breathe. His lips began to turn blue. Little veins ran through the white parts of his eyes. He was suffocating.

* * *

It's a short chappy, but I had to. I'm running out of time to do my last things.  
  
There's something I noticed about our Dutch Yu-Gi-Oh!. In our version every Yami has a different kind of growling. Yami growls:"Hungr!", Yami Marik "Grrrr!" and Yami Bakura growls: "Arrgh!" I know it's stupid, but stupid things are fun. Another thing is that our Dutch Yami Bakura is the only Yami able to scream. The other Yamis get a fight with their voices when they try to. Our Yami Marik doesn't even has a voice of his own. It's Marik's voice, altered with a computer. The voices of the other Yamis are real. And the voice of our Yami Bakura is sooooooooooo **cool**...  
  
Uhh... hrm. Please review. 


	5. Roots Exposed

Ryou-Ran's back! I've been on vacation for a month. I've been on a boat, no TV, no internet...

Ad I've got a bad case of bronchitis. Tonight I could not sleep because I could barely breathe.

Ryou: And what is going to happen to me in this chapter?

Ryou-Ran: I'm not going to tell you. It's a secret.

Marik: Hey... there's a crack in this egg.

Ryou-Ran: What?

Yami Bakura: He's right. The egg is going to hatch!

Ryou: I wonder what kind of chicken will come out of it.

Yami: (sticks out his thin chest) Time shall learn.

Ryou-Ran: Let's go on with the fic. I'm so nervous, I've got to do something in between!

Roots Exposed

Ryou grabbed at his chest and produced a horrible gurgling sound. Mr Bakura grabbed his shoulders and shook him roughly. "Ryou!"he cried. "Wake up! Breathe!" Yami was the only one able to keep cool, as usual. He managed to shoulder Mr Bakura out of the way, grabbed Ryou and lay him with his stomach over his knees. He gave Ryou a hard slap on the back. Ryou coughed, and began to turn blue. His hand plucked at Yami's trouserleg. His eyes closed.

Yami Bakura anxiously paced around in his soulroom and watched the process through a soul-window. He saw Ryou lose consciousness and saw Yami slap him on the back. He knew that if Ryou would die he would die with him. The Yami looked at his hands. Tiny bolts of energy sparkled between his long fingers. It was all the fault of the power that had once belonged to him and was now too much for the weak body of his Hikari.

Suddenly Ryou gasped and breathed in. His chest went up. Mr Bakura let out a sigh that seemed to come from the tips of his toes. Yami went back into his soulroom and let a relieved Yugi come out. Marik wiped some sweat from his forehead. "One of us should constantly be guarding Bakura." he said. "Just in case he somehow hurts himself again." Tristan nodded. He agreed to stay with Ryou as the Japanese boy slept and recovered.

It was late at night. Joey had taken Tristan's place. Ryou was asleep. Yami Bakura, on the other hand, was not. The dark power flowed through his veins, feeling like boiling oil that scarred his bones and burned his flesh. His hair was wilder than ever, like there was a thunderstorm ahead. He slapped his arms around his stomach and bent over. A soft cry escaped his lips. He had to get rid of this overflow of power somehow, he had to...

Ryou suddenly groaned. Joey had been dozing a bit and woke up. Ryou groaned again and began throwing his head to and fro. "Bakura-Kun, what is it?"Joey anxiously asked. He grabbed Ryou's arms. Ryou tossed and turned and tried to get free. He kicked against the wall, waking the people in the next room. The others came out. Yugi's Puzzle emitted a faint light. Ryou's Ring began to glow. The pointers moved frantically. Ryou's hair stuck up, fell down again and stuck up again.

"The Spirit of the Millennium Ring tries to take over."Yugi said. "Bakura-Kun is resisting...." Ryou suddenly leapt up. He tossed the blankets away and wanted to run outside, but Tristan stopped him. Ryou's face displayed a devlish expression. The eyes were mean and narrow; the eyes of the Spirit of the Ring. Yami Bakura grabbed Tristan by the front of his shirt and simply lifted him up and threw him aside. He ran out of the house.

The others picked Tristan up, but when they had gone outside neither Ryou, nor Yami Bakura were anywhere to be seen. "We have to find him."Mr Bakura said. "Who knows what will happen to him?" Yami, who had come out, nodded. "Yes. But how do we find out where he is?"he asked. Marik suddenly blew on his fingers. "Ow!"Tristan whined. "You can't do that much louder, can you?"

Suddenly a piece of the sand came up, near Joey. "WAAAAAH!"Joey screamed and flew around Tea's neck. "A ghost!" Exactly at that moment Odion stuck a bald head out of a hatch in the ground. "Did you call me, Marik?"he asked. "Yes."Marik said. "Odion, will you get us a sniffer-dog, please?" Odion nodded and vanished again as Tea tried to wrestle herself out of Joey's grip. Less than a minute later he came up again with a dog. They let the dog smell Ryou's handkerchief. The dog immediately ran in the direction of the little barn where Mr Bakura had stored the bones he had found earlier.

"The bones... from the grave... They're gone!"Mr Bakura cried. He picked up the crate the bones had been in and showed it to the other people and Yami. "I think Yami Bakura has taken them."Yami said. "But why?"

Marik suddenly paled. "Yami..."he said. "Bakura began to act strangely after we had exposed those bones, remember?" "What do you mean by that?"Mr Bakura asked. Marik looked at the arrow that had been stuck inside the rib-cage of the skeleton. "There were still plucks of hair attached to the skull."he mumbled. "White hair... and the skeleton did not appear to be that of an old man..." Yami's eyes widened. "You mean... the skeleton we found..."he began, but Mr Bakura finished the sentence. "...belonged to the Spirit of the Ring before he died?" Marik nodded. "That's what I think."he said. "And I know we have to go after Bakura quickly."

They followed the dog and found out the Spirit of the Ring had run to his own grave. When they arrived there they saw him standing, laying the bones back into the grave, like a puzzle. The Ring hanging down his chest was glowing faintly.

The Milllennium Item must have warned him, because he suddenly stood and looked in the direction of Yami and the gang. A grin appeared on his face. He bent over the grave again and continued piecing the skeleton together. He hummed.

"We have got to stop him."Yami said. "Let us go." The gang wanted to run over to Yami Bakura, but Mr Bakura suddenly stepped on something. The next moment he felt something sting, like someone had stuck a needle in his leg. When he looked down he saw a snake that was curled around his leg. A warm sensation spread throught his entire leg.

Something gold flashed into his field of vision and crushed the head of the snake. It was the Millennium Rod. Marik had killed the snake with it. Odion bent over the snake. "It is a poisonous snake."he said. "You need to go to a hospital as soon as possible, or you will die." Marik cleaned his Rod with sand. The Spirit of the Millennium Ring had looked up, but was back to the bones again.

"Odion, will you go with Mr Bakura to the nearest hospi-"Marik began, but Mr Bakura interrupted. "No..."he said. "Ryou... I've got to save Ryou..." He got up. His leg had an alarming purple color. Joey quickly grabbed him. "You will die if you don't go a hospital right now."he said. Mr Bakura looked at him. Joey read a strong persevearance in the eyes of the older man. "No."Mr Bakura firmly said. "Ryou comes first, he needs me." Together they walked over to Yami Bakura.

Yami Bakura spun around when they arrived there. A dark veil covered him and gave his hair a grey color. His eyes were two red pools. He looked absolutely not like Ryou. "I was expecting you."he said. "Please forgive me, Pharaoh, I can't give you a hand. My hands are dirty." He chuckled. "Aw, I'm being a poor host! Why don't you come in?"he then said. The Ring began to glow a golden light. The gang was sucked into the Ring.

All the people and Yami smashed against the ground. It existed of cold rocks. Yami blinked a couple of times and looked around. They were inside a small room. The walls were covered with sheets of paper. When Yami took a closer look at them he could see they were letters, written by Ryou, adressed to his deceased mother and sister. Standing in the middle of the room was a big table, with an enormous Monster World playing field on it. Yami had seen it before. That same table was standing in the game-room in Ryou's apartment. It was the biggest Monster World field in the world. A small puppet was standing in the middle of the field. It was a puppet with white hair and a rod shaped like an ankh. The drawings on it's robes were also shaped like ankhs. It was Ryou's avatar, White Magic User Bakura. On a small edge of the table was the laptop Ryou used to control the field with. Spread over the floor was Ryou's deck. They were inside Ryou's soulroom.

"Oh!"Tea suddenly said. She pointed at a pair of feet that stuck out of a small door. The gang moved over to the door and found out the feet belonged to Ryou. Ryou was face-down on the floor. Tristan turned him over. Ryou's head was covered by his hair. When Tristan brushed it away he saw the boy was unconscious. Ryou did not wear his own clothes. He wore Egyptian clothes, a heavy necklace with red and green jewels, a ivory colored skirt with two blue lines running over it, and his calfs were covered with golden plates.. He also wore the Millennium Ring. He was, in fact, not the real Ryou, but his soul. There was no bandage around his back and chest either.

Tristan woke Ryou up. Ryou opened his big eyes and looked around. Yami told him about what was going on.

Suddenly Mr Bakura groaned. He grabbed his leg in both hands. "Dad! What's going on?"Ryou anxiously cried. "Your father was bit by a snake."Marik softly said. "It's too late for an antidote." He saw tears appear in Ryou's eyes. Ryou gave a high groan and buried his face in his hands. "Oh, Dad!"he sobbed. "Why?" He began rocking his upper body and cried like a child. Mr Bakura weakly lay a hand on Ryou's arm. "I wanted to save you."he said. Ryou looked up, eyes puffy and red. "You did not have to!"he angrily said. "I cannot be saved anyhow!" The others looked at him in surprise. "The Spirit of the Ring is linked to me."Ryou said. "He will stay with me forever." He looked at the Ring hanging around his neck. "You should have gone to a hospital and saved yourself."he told his father. "I know the Spirit of the Millennium Ring will eventually be my demise. He almost killed me once before." Mr Bakura's eyes grew big. "That bandages around my arm... My other half stabbed a knife into his own arm so I would be hurt. It gave Marik an alibi. By helping me Yugi and the others would think he was not evil at all. But he and the Spirit of the Ring worked together."Ryou softly said. "I got really sick, but Yami Bakura escaped from the hospital and managed to get himself six locator-cards. He entered the BattleCity-finals, disguised himself as me and had to play against the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. When Yugi and Yami summoned Slifer the Sky-dragon Yami Bakura knew he would lose. Marik told him to release my soul. He, the Spirit of the Ring, Yami and Yugi knew I would die if Slifer would attack me. Yami Bakura released me, but Marik made him unsure about Yami not daring to attack. He took my body over again and saved me." Ryou had looked at the Ring the whole time, but now he looked at his father. "The Spirit is so reckless... once he will kill me and himself thanks to that." The others were silent. They had never heard Ryou speak that much. And they had never seen the real Ryou. Ryou always appeared lighthearted, but that was just a mask. The real Ryou was sad, scared and worried.

"We should go to the soulroom of the Spirit of the Ring."Yami suddenly said. "I get the feeling that is the only place where he can be beaten." Ryou stood and helped his father get up. Mr Bakura swayed and had to heavily lean on Ryou's shoulder. Together they opened the door that led to a small corridor. On the other end of the corridor was a gate. The Eye of Sennen was engraved in it. Tristan was the strongest member of the gang, but he was having trouble opening it. He eventually ran into it with his shoulder and opened it far enough for them to get through.

When they entered the soulroom of the Spirit, they saw the room had no walls, and no ceiling either. They looked at a dark sky, with red clouds drifting in it. They could feel their energy was been drained away partly. "I've been here before."Ryou said. "It's the Shadow Realm." Yami spun around so quickly that his Puzzle bounced against his back. "You mean the soulroom of your Yami is the Shadow Realm?"he gasped. "I cannot believe that!"

"See for yourself, Pharaoh!"A loud, harsh voice suddenly bellowed. Yami Bakura was standing in front of them. He grinned.

Suddenly Mr Bakura groaned and grabbed Ryou's shoulder for support. His hand slid down Ryou's arm as he collapsed. Ryou watched him fall with open eyes, fallen jaw. He let himself fall to his knees and grabbed his father's arms. He shook him roughly. "DAD! OH, GOD! DAD, WAKE UP!"he screamed.

* * *

Darn, we went on vacation for five weeks in stead of four... Luthien, you still alive?

Mr Bakura: Did I hear something about an egg going to hatch?

Ryou: Yes, it's Ryou-Ran's egg.

Mr Bakura: Great! And how is our happy mother doing? (slaps Ryou-Ran very hard on the back)

Ryou-Ran: (slams with her head into the table) Head-ache...

Mr Bakura: (wags a finger) Ah-ah-ah, you should not drink that much, Ryou-Ran.

Yugi: ?

Ryou-Ran: But I don't drink alcohol!

Mr Bakura: OO Uhhh... whatever. You should not drink that much.

No inspiration, please review. Chicken will be born in the next ficcie.


	6. Right roots, but wrong plant

Man, I get bloodnose after bloodnose! This ain't fun any more... and Fanfic wouldn't upload my ficcies somehow, that's why I updated so late.

Augh! Just read the Dutch television guide... Yu-Gi-Oh! is temporarily outlawed! They only have got Battle City and Battle Ship in the Netherlands. People have complained about that, so they decided to stop broadcasting until Dueltower and the NOA-ARC have arrived. (in fall) The same thing goes for Beyblade. Only V-Force. People complained, stopped broadcasting, wait until G-Revo is here. Stupid burocratic system. Can't stand a few commentaries, Jetix?

Yugi: The egg is going to hatch soon.

Ryou: With Hikari Lunar curled around it it will stay nice and warm.

Mr Bakura: Yeah. That Yami Bakura was already heating the oven, to keep it warm, he said.

Ryou-Ran: OO"

Marik and Yami Bakura: (are secretly trying to tiptoe out of the house)

Ryou-Ran: Not so fast! Where are you going?

Yami Bakura: Uhh... Egypt!

Marik: Yes! To show Yami Bakura my... uh... scarabees!

Ryou-Ran: (holds them by the collar) No, you're not going anywhere!

Marik and Yami Bakura: HELP! SAVE US FROM THE WERWOLF! (run in place)

Yami: It will take a while to hatch.

Ryou-Ran: Yeah... let's start the fic to kill time. Who is going to do the disclaimer?

Yugi: I'll do it! Ryou-Ran does not own Yu-Gi-OW!

Yami Bakura: It's Yu-Gi-OH!, fool!

Yugi: Yes, but someone stepped on me. (big, teary eyes)

Yami Bakura: --"

This only goes for Dutch and Belgian readers: When Moonlight speaks, imagine the voice of Kai Hiwatari. (Kai's voice is a combination of the voices of Ryou and Yami Bakura)

Right roots, but wrong plant

Ryou lay the head of his father is his lap and cradled it. "Oh Dad!"he sobbed. "Please..." Yugi leaned against Yami's shoulder and cried too. Joey, Téa and Tristan were trying to hold back their tears. Marik and Odion watched with sad expressions on their faces.

Suddenly a red flash of lightning crashed down and struck Yami Bakura. The Yami laughed. His hair and eyes had the color of blood. He wasn't wearing his usual clothes either. He wore a dark-blue skirt, golden bracelets around his wrists and ankles and a ring around every finger. He also wore the Millennium Ring.

Outside, in the real world, a stranger appeared out of nothing. He wore long robes and a turban. His eyes were blue and empty. His skin had the color of the desert sand. His hand disappeared into his robes and came out with a big key shaped like an ankh. He walked over to the silent body of Ryou Bakura and touched Ryou's forehead with the tip of the key. He turned it (the key) and the next moment he was gone.

Yami Bakura was still laughing loudly. The others tried the best they could to ignore him, but one can imagine that is kind of hard when there's an ancient Spirit nearby, laughing like mad, making lightning crash down and calling you names.The only one able to succesfully ignore him was Ryou, but he had other things on his mind. He held the soul of his dying father in his arms.

Suddenly someone opened the heavy gate of Yami Bakura's soul room. It was the stranger from outside. "Shaadi!"Yugi cried. Yami Bakura looked up with an irritated expression on his face.

Shaadi bowed for Yami, completely ignored Ryou and his father and walked over to Yami Bakura. Yami Bakura was a little taller than him, but Shaadi walked on until he stood almost chest-to-chest with the Yami and did not seem to be impressed at all by the furious looks of "get the hell out of my soul room" Yami Bakura sent him. "Spirit of the Millennium Ring."he sang. "I came here to-" "Very nice of you, pleasure to meet you, you can go now, bye bye."Yami Bakura snarled like a machinegun. "I came here because someone wishes to speak to you."Shaadi continued. "Tell him I don't want to speak him."Yami Bakura spat. Shaadi shook no. "It's a woman."he said.

(Damn, another bloodnose)

The others were surprised. Yami Bakura and a girlfriend? Joey tried to stifle a guffaw. "A... a woman?"Yami Bakura asked, confused. Shaadi nodded. "There she is."he said and made a gesture with his arm. The shady form of a walking woman appeared in the mist. Suddenly she broke through the mist. Her face became visible. She had big eyes, as blue as the ocean. Her skin had the color of gold. She wore a pretty white dress and golden plates around her legs and forearms. Yami Bakura uttered something unintelligible. "My son."the woman sadly said. "What has become of you?" Yami Bakura swallowed a lump in his throat. "Mother?"he asked.

Everybody's jaw fell, even those of Yami and Odion. The woman standing in front of them was Yami Bakura's mother.

Yami Bakura quickly recovered. "Woman, I do not wish to speak to you!"he yelled. "I command you to leave my soulroom!" But his mother did not move a muscle, exept for the ones in her right arm. She stuck up a hand.

Two men, still boys actually, fell out of the dark sky and both landed on one hand and two feet, supple like cats, agile like bats. The one of the left had white hair that brushed over his shoulders. It was wild and plucky. He had a cruel face, with narrow, purple eyes and a scar running over his right cheek. Identical to Yami Bakura's face, exept for the eye-color and the scar. His skin was copper-colored. His chest was incredibly muscular and his arms were thick and strong. He wore the same clothes as Yami Bakura, plus a thick red cloack with white lightning on it. He took the cloack and threw it away. It was Touzokuou Bakura-Sama. Yami Bakura before he died.

The man on the right was different. His hair was white too, with the same five plucks that were always hanging on Ryou's forehead. The rest of his hair was long and graceful, like the mane of a lion. And his eyes; they were almost like Ryou's. Really big, thin white eyebrows above them. But his eyes had a warm, purple-blue color and the lower eyelashes pointed up in stead of down. His face was similair to Ryou's, just as delicate, exept for the scar that also ran down his right cheek. His body was identical to the body of Touzokuou Bakura-Sama. He wore the clothes Ryou was wearing, with razor-sharp, pointy bracelets. A quiver was hanging down his back. Moonlight Bakura. If young Yami Bakura wouldn't have gotten evil he would have been like that. Moonlight Bakura was a Shadow Soul. A soul of a person that had never existed.

The gang was shocked, Yami Bakura most. Ryou had seen everything that had happened, but it couldn't penetrate his mind. He could hear the breath of his father become weaker and weaker. He could feel the heartbeat of his father get slower and slower. He lay his cheek on his father's hair and cried.

"Go, my son."Yami Bakura's mother said to one of the ancient Bakura's present. Moonlight gave a nod with his head and walked over to Ryou and his father. Ryou looked up at him, scared. He could not read any emotions in the eyes of the soul looming over him. Moonlight grabbed the wrists of Mr Bakura. His big hands began to glow. He closed his eyes and focussed.

Mr Bakura's breath and heartbeat became stronger. The color returned to his face. He stirred and opened his eyes. He could vaguely see a face, with big eyes, surrounded by white hair. He thought it was Ryou's, but when he took a closer look he saw it wasn't Ryou's face at all. It was just an Egyptian that looked much like his son. Suddenly another face appeared besides the face of the Egyptian man. A face that sneezed when it got a pluck of hair in it's nose. Ryou's face. Ryou looked at him in amazement. A big smile spread across his wet face. His eyes were red and his nose was dripping. "Dad! You're back!"he yelled. He looked at the copper-colored guy besides him. Moonlight looked back and gave a slight smile. His eyes became warm for a moment. When he stood up his eyes were as emotionless as before again. He walked back, bowed for his mother and took place besides her again.

Ryou ensconced himself in the arms of his father. "Oh Dad... I was so scared you were going to die..."he mumbled. Mr Bakura hugged him tightly. "I'm still with you, Ryou."he warmly said. "I won't let you down." Father hugged son. They released eachother. Ryou sat down besides his father.

Suddenly a soft "Uuuhhn!" broke silence. It sounded like Ryou's voice. Mr Bakura looked at Ryou, but Ryou looked back with alert eyes and was not in pain. It wasn't Ryou who had groaned. But who was it, then? A second "Uuuhhn!" could be heard. Now Mr Bakura was sure it wasn't Ryou. Ryou hadn't opened his mouth. But he saw Ryou look at something and start. His eyes widened rapidly and his jaw fell. When Mr Bakura followed his gaze he saw who had groaned.

It was Moonlight. He had fallen on one knee and had wrapped his arms around his chest. His eyes were cramped shut and he breathed chest-heavingly. When he coughed little golden drops sprayed out of his mouth. Soulblood. He fell onto his other knee too. He slapped his hand in front of his mouth and gagged blood all over himself.

"The poison that affected Mr Bakura is now affecting him."the ever so cool Odion said. "But the process is been sped up for some reason." "We must help him!"Joey cried. "Can't we do anything to help him? HEY, MA'AM! IT'S YOUR SON THAT'S DYING!" But Yami Bakura's mother and Touzokuou looked at it and did not interfere. Yami Bakura looked at it bemused. He had thought only Ryou would be so stupid to sacrifice himself in order to save someone else, but appareantly other people had that bad tendency too.

Moonlight had fallen with his face in the sand, but drew himself up one more time. He still clutched with one hand at his chest. "Aaaarrgh!"he uttered. More blood ran down his chin. Then he rolled over to his back. His eyes turned away and closed. His hand slid down his chest and fell in the grey sand. His other hand was lying besides his head, covered with sand and blood. A little bit of sand was stuck in the bloodied corners of his small mouth.

Ryou, who had been holding his breath, let out a shuddering sigh. Yami had pushed Yugi's face in his jacket so he would not witness Moonlight's death throes. Tea had covered her face with her hands. Joey had grabbed Tristan's sleeve. Tristan had slapped a hand in front of his mouth. Marik looked at it in terror. Odion's face did not reveal his thoughts. Touzokuou and Yami Bakura's mother seemed to be absolutely emotionless. Yami Bakura stared at the "corpse" of the fallen soul open-mouthed. Shaadi was gone.

"He... is...he.."Joey stammered. Marik found the courage to walk over to Moonlight and lay a hand in the thick neck. He looked up and shook no. Ryou looked up at his father. The eyes of the older man were as big as saucers. Ryou knew what went around in the head of his father. Moonlight had sacrificed himself in order to save him and now Mr Bakura felt guilty as hell.

Suddenly the dead body stirred. Marik hopped up with a scream and rushed over to Odion. Moonlight opened his eyes and got up. The blood had vanished. He shook the sand out of his hair and went to stand next to his mother again. He sent Ryou's father a warm look. Mr Bakura hesitatingly smiled back.

"You still haven't told me what you exactly want, woman."Yami Bakura's angry voice suddenly came. "I came to warn you."his mother answered. "That power..." "What's wrong with that power?"Yami Bakura interrupted. He began to get really pissed. "You must give it up."the Egyptian woman said.

Yami Bakura began to boil over. "NOBODY TELLS THE LORD OF THE SHADOW REALM WHAT TO DO!"he screamed and ran over to his mother, fist raised.

Moonlight suddenly flew between the Yami and his mother. Yami Bakura ran into his massive chest. Both souls fell to the floor. "If you want to attack my mother you must first get past me."Moonlight said in old Egyptian. His voice sounded lower than Ryou's, and more confident. Mr Bakura, Joey, Tea and Tristan did not understand what he said, but the others did. Ryou was surprised he could understand the language.

Yami Bakura walked back a few meters, but suddenly spun around and fired a black bolt of dark energy that came from deep within. It flew in the direction of Moonlight.

But Moonlight crossed his fists in front of his face and fired a bolt similair to that. Yami Bakura had not known Moonlight also held the Powers of Darkness. The bolts collided in mid-air. The persons who had fired the bolts were thrown to the floor. They both scrambled up again, ready to continue fighting.

But suddenly a black shadow surrounded Ryou. The boy twisted his frail body in all kinds of weird postures and moaned. When he opened his eyes they radiated a red light. Yami Bakura was caught in the light and began to sway a bit. He gasped and clutched at his throat. When the light vanished again Yami and Hikari were lying on the floor, panting and gasping.

Yami Bakura had a high endurance and recovered quickly. If he could not beat Moonlight that way, he should find another way to beat him. He looked at the penant hanging down his chest. The good old Millennium Ring. He activated the Millennium Item, that immediately activated the Ring hanging down Ryou's chest too. Ryou let out a small cry. Blue beams exploded out of both Items.

Moonlight fired a ray of his energy too, but the energy was completely different from the Millennium Magic. The beams pierced right through the energyshield he had produced and hit him in the chest. The power of the attack sent him sprawling.

Yami Bakura walked over to the dizzy soul with a look of pure, evil amusement on his face. His teeth were long, like those of a vampire. His eyes had the color of fresh blood. And that was what the evil Yami wanted to see. Blood. He grabbed Moonlight by the hair and lifted him from the ground. Yami Bakura lived inside a weak body, but he had kept the amazing physical he had had before his death.

He punched Moonlight hard in the stomach. Moonlight uttered a shrieking noise and wrapped his arms around his poor stomach. Yami Bakura raised his hand to slap him again.

Ryou looked at Moonlight. The look in the eyes, the expression on the face, the way he tried to crawl away from the Yami and pulled up his knees to protect his chest... Ryou recognised that all. That was they way he looked like when his Yami was for some reason torturing him. Something began to boil inside Ryou. He narrowed his eyes. He clenched his fists. He strained the sinewy muscles in his arms and chest.

At the moment Yami Bakura wanted to bring down his fist something white flew into his field of vision and grabbed his wrists. He was flabbergasted when he saw it was his host. Ryou looked more like Yami Bakura than like himself. He was furious. A golden light enveloped him. The light did not come from the Ring. It came from deep inside Ryou's heart. His hands were still clasped in Yami Bakura's. The two Bakuras tried to push each other down. Yami Bakura was surprised when he felt how hard it was to push his usually weak Hikari down.

"GET'M, BAKURA!"Joey madly screamed. "SHOW HIM WHO'S THE MAN!" Marik, Yugi and Yami did not dare to cheer. Their Items sensed what others couldn't see. They saw Ryou was quickly weakening.

Suddenly the golden light vanished. Ryou crashed to the ground. Yami Bakura, who had not expected that, almost fell on top of him. When he saw Ryou had lost his powers his anger grew. "Never do that again, Yadonushi!"he shouted. Ryou was submissive as ever and hung his head. "N-no."he stammered. Yami Bakura went to stand behind him and squeezed him in the neck, just above the collarbone. Ryou threw his head in his neck and opened his mouth in pain. "I did not quite understand you, Omote."Yami Bakura whispered. "What did you say?" Ryou hung his head again. "Lie, Shukun."he softly said.

Mr Bakura looked at his son in shock. Ryou had called that thing, that ghost his master! Master! What had happened to Ryou's dignity?

"Good."Yami Bakura contently said. He took his shoe off. "Now kiss my feet." Ryou looked up with an incredulous look in his eyes. "Eh?"he said rather stupidly. Yami Bakura touched Ryou's nose with his toe. "Kiss-my-feet."he said in a deadly whisper.

Yugi was startled when he saw Ryou got on hands and knees. He was shocked when he saw Ryou brought his head closer to Yami Bakura's foot. He was bemused when he saw Ryou revealed a mouthful of white teeth and bit his Yami in the ankle.

"AAAAAAAOOOOW!"Yami Bakura screamed. "BAKURA! WORTHLESS RAT!" He kicked Ryou in the face. Ryou fell onto his back, holding his cheekbone in his hand. He rolled over to his stomach and curled himself up to a ball, trying to protect his head with his hands. Punches kept raining down on his back and the back of his head.

"Someone stop him!"Tea screamed. Tristan tried to run over to Yami Bakura and stop him, but Yami Bakura activated the Millennium Ring and pushed him back.

He turned Ryou to his back and pulled his wrists down. He revealed Ryou's scared face, the left cheek swollen and vaguely gold-colored. He began to kick and punch Ryou at every available piece of his body, especially in the face and stomach. Ryou cried out in pain. "Please! OW! You'll kill me! OUCH! Please, stop! AAAAAIIII!" Yami Bakura had kicked him the ribs with al his might.

Mr Bakura was horrified. He had never heard his son scream like that. He saw Ryou wiggle, the delicate face turned into a mask of pain.

Suddenly Touzokuou rushed over to Yami Bakura, swung his arms under Yami Bakura's and pushed his fists in the neck of the Yami. Yami Bakura managed to give Ryou one last kick, but felt the fists of the soul holding him in his neck. He knew Touzokuou could easily break his nack if he wanted to. And only Shadow Souls were immortal, because they had never existed, as Moonlight had proven already. Yami Bakura's was immortal too, but for a Yami it was extremely painful to come back as a living soul again. He hung his head. "Okay, I give up. You've got me."he said. Moonlight did not trust him and quickly pulled Ryou away from him. Ryou screamed in pain when Moonlight accidentally touched one of his broken ribs.

Touzokuou made the mistake of relieving the pressure on Yami Bakura's thin neck. Yami Bakura wrenched himself free, spun around and flew at Touzokuou's neck, quick like a viper. Touzokuou felt the fingers of the demon wrap themselves around his neck in an iron grip. He began to suffocate and uttered a choked cry for help at the adress of his " brother".

Moonlight carefully lay the softly groaning Ryou down in the arms of his father. Then he flew with so much power into Yami Bakura's side that the ancient Spirit of the Millennium Ring let go of Touzokuou's throat and rolled over the ground, together with Moonlight. Touzouou coughed and rubbed his sore throat. Moonlight and Yami Bakura rolled over the ground, delivering each other punches and kicks. Moonlight was bigger than Yami Bakura and more muscular, but concerning physical strength they were equally matched. The two men groaned and cried out, kicked and punched, scratched and bit. Touzokuou decided to interfere and just slapped the first white-haired head he saw. It happened to be Moonlight's. "SAY, HAVE YOU GONE MAD?!"the Shadow Soul furiously shouted at a stupified Touzokuou. Touzokuou turned red and dove into the clew of fighting souls.

The others watched them fight. Yami Bakura fought like a lion. The two other souls were having a hard time trying to beat him. Suddenly Yami Bakura hit Touzokuou so hard on the chin that the soul of the thief fell onto his back and passed out. Yami Bakura stood over him, legs wide and wanted to send him to the Shadow Realm forever.

But before he could activate his Ring Moonlight rushed forward and grabbed his neck from behind. He bent Yami Bakura's neck forward so quickly that he could hear it snap. Yami Bakura's body numbed. He slumped onto his back on the floor. He could not feel his arms, legs, chest and belly any more. Moonlight had broken his neck. He was paralyzed.

Mr Bakura still held Ryou. He was really worried, especially when Ryou's breath began to rasp and a little streamlet of blood began to trickle from the corner of his mouth. He saw Moonlight threw worried glances on Ryou. Moonlight woke Touzokuou up. Touzokuou went to stand next to his mother like nothing had happened.

"Ra! What's going on?"Yami Bakura cried. "I can't move!" He saw his mother loom over him, the two ancient souls at her flanks. "Moonlight broke your neck."she said. "Will you listen now?" "I don't have the impression I have much of a choice."Yami Bakura muttered. His mother knelt down besides him. "Look at what has become of you."she sadly said. She stood and walked over to Moonlight, who was squatted on the floor. "You could have become happy and healthy. You could have built up a family and lived long and prosper." She stroked Moonlight over the hair. Moonlight closed his eyes and smiled. He lay his cheek in her hand. They could almost hear him purr. Yami Bakura's mother released him and went over to Touzokuou. She lay a hand on his hair to, but he did not even look up. He kept staring at Yami Bakura, a cold, bitter look in his eyes. "But you became bitter and went astray. You died young." "Hoh! But I continued living five-thousand years later!"the Yami on the floor blustered.

"You won't for long, if you go on like this."his mother said in such an indifferent way that he shut up. "What?"Yami Bakura asked. "Why not?" His mother knelt down besides him again and turned his head to Ryou. "Let us show you."

"Omote!"Yami Bakura hissed. "I knew it was because of you!" He sent Ryou a look full of hatred. Ryou crawled back.

Suddenly the Ring on Yami Bakura's chest exploded in a flash of golden light. Yami Bakura was thrown onto hhis feed and remained standing there. He looked down at the shocked souls in front of him. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!"he screamed. "YOU ARE ALL GOING TO PAY!"

Yami and Marik exchanged glances and nodded to eachother. Yami concentrated his thoughts on the Millennium Puzzle. Marik tightly held the Millennium Rod in his hand. Then they both attacked. The eye of Sennen appeared on Yami's forehead. Yami Bakura was caught in a flash of golden light. But it did not seem to affect him at all. He activated his Ring and sent the fire back. Both Yami and Marik were blown upside-down. Marik blacked out, but Yami, as a Yami, had a higher endurance. He scrambled up again, knowing Yami Bakura could not be beaten by Millennium Magic.

Moonlight and Touzokuou both fired rays of dark power, but Yami Bakura formed a shield that made the attack bounce off and return to the person it originated from. Both Egyptians flew through the air screaming and landed on thier backs. They both knew the future was all up to Yami Bakura.

And that future did not appear to be a good one. Ryou was sick and coughing up blood. Marik had blacked out. Millennium Magic was not able to harm the furious Yami, and Moonlight and Touzokuou weren't able to beat him either.

"TO THE SHADOW REALM YOU WILL GO!"Yami Bakura screamed. "ALL OF YOU! YOU TOO, BAKURA! YOU WILL WANDER IN THERE FOREVER! HA HA HA HAAAAAAAA!"

* * *

This is actually the second time I'm writing this chapter. Somehow the status of the previous version had gotten lost. I could read the chapter, but the computers did not know whatever it was. I had to create a new file in order to upload it. It took me hours to write the newer version, but this one became better than the previous one.

Believe it or not, but chapter seven was completed before chapter six. Whatever.

Ryou: I can see a little beak!

Ryou-Ran: (is overexited) A little beak, a little beak, a little beaheak!

Yami Bakura: (holds a frying-pan in his hands) Warn me when it has hatched. I'm going to heat the oil.

Ryou-Ran: Oh, no, you won't! (snatches the frying-pan out of Yami Bakura's hands and hits him on the head with it)

Yami Bakura: Ow... that... hurt... (has a head with a frying-pan-print on it)

Yugi: Oh, it comes out!

Ryou-Ran: It comes out, it comes out, it comes ou-out!

Eggshell: (cracks)

Little Chicken: (sits on the table)

Ryou: Aw, look at that!

Ryou-Ran: My little chicken!

Mr Bakura: It's white with brown eyes! It's a Ryou-chicken!

Moonlight: (extends his hand and shakes Ryou-Ran's entire arm) Congratulations!

Yami Bakura: (pouts) Can't we really have it for dinner?

Ryou-Ran: No! I don't want anyone to eat my kawaii chibi Ryou-chicky! Can you guard him and Ryou for us, Hikari Lunar?

Question: Can someone give my little chicken a name? A Japanese name would be just fine. A name in Swahili would be a little weird, don't you think? Ryou will kiss the person that finds the name I like most.

Ryou: OO" I will?

Ryou-Ran: You will.

Pleaaaasssse review!


	7. Tree fed, plant dead

And again I was forced to write this chappie for the second time because Fanfic couldn't upload it. This really pisses me! I can now only update every three days in stead of one, as usual.

(This been written just after having placed it in de document manager: Yes! It uploaded! (hugs computer) I'm so glad I do not have to write it for the third time...)

The name of the chicken is decided, he's called Chikao! I found it such a cute name... But don't be disappointed, I'm going to breed out lots of chickens and give them the other names that have been proposed. I just hope the chicken called Goku won't Kamehameha my house into pieces.

And because you all did the best you could Ryou will kiss everybody!

Ryou: OO"

Ryou-Ran: Off you go, Ryou!

Ryou: Okay, I'll be back, I hope...

Yami Bakura: (holds a frying-pan) Are we going to eat toasted chicken tonight?

Ryou-Ran: No, we won't! Give me that frying-pan!

Yami Bakura: (reluctantly hands the pan over)

Ryou-Ran: (hits him with pan)

Yami Bakura: OWIE! What was that good for?!

Ryou-Ran: Just to warn you to keep your hands off Chikao. Don't even think of eating him!

Yami Bakura: (pouts) It's not fair, no chicken...

Ryou-Ran: Go stuff yourself with something else. Why don't you go outside and drink some blood, or something?

Yami Bakura: I do not need to go outside for that. (begins to chase Marik around the room)

Marik: AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! HELP! VAMPIRE!

Yami Bakura: I'm going to drink your blood! GRAH!

Ryou-Ran: Who is going to do the disclaimer this time?

Moonlight: I am! Please, can I do it? (gives Ryou-Ran THE Ryou-look)

Ryou-Ran: Go ahead. (almost falls on her knees in front of him)

Moonlight: (utters something unintelligible)

Joey: What was that?

Touzokuou: "Ryou-Ran does not own Yu-Gi-Oh!" in ancient Egyptian.

Ryou-Ran: --" And there we go.

Tree fed, plant dead.

"WAAAAAAAH! I DON'T WANT TO GO TO THE SHADOW REALM!"Joey screamed, grabbed Yami by the front of his jacket and shook him roughly. "YAMI, DO SOMETHING!" "There's nothing we can do!"a bit of a seasick Yami cried. "He's too strong for us! And let go of me!" Odion and Yugi were waking Marik up. Tristan stood in front of the group, fists balled, wanting to protect them. Tea hid behind him. Ryou was sitting next to Mr Bakura. "I knew this would happen."he softly said. A jolt of pain went through his chest and made his gasp.

Moonlight and Touzokuou were not afraid. They were standing about twenty feet away from the raging Yami. "Ra has forsaken us!"Moonlight said. "We can't beat him!" "If he didn't have that Ring he would be easier to beat."Touzokuou said. "I know it's powers. It is completely different from the power we both possess." They looked at Yami Bakura and grinded their teeth.

"IT'S ALL OVER! SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR LOVED ONES! YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO SEE THEM AGAIN!"Yami Bakura bellowed. His teeth had grown out to long fangs. His eyes were big, but the irisses were small. His hair was billowing in all directions. The pointers of the Millennium Ring were moving frantically. Suddenly they all pointed in the same direction; at the group of souls standing and sitting in front of him.

Moonlight, Touzokuou and Tristan all gave the same reaction: they clenched their jaws and placed one foot firmly on the ground in front of them. Yugi and Odion helped a shocked Marik get up.

"What made you so bitter, my son?"Yami Bakura's mother shouted over the noise the Yami created. "What made you kill the Pharaoh?" Everybody looked at her in shock. Yami was flabbergasted. The evil Spirit of the Ring had killed him? Yami Bakura just snorted. The circle of golden light surrounding him had gotten larger and almost touched Touzokuou's feet.

Suddenly they could hear the voices of children. Yami Bakura abruptly de-activated the Ring. Through the mist they could clearly see the forms of two little boys.

The boy on the left had white hair that stuck up on the back of his head like the ears of a cat. He had enormous blue-purple eyes and a small mouth. His face was similair to that of a younger Ryou. He wore a pure-white skirt, a tiara on his head, a silver necklace and his arms and legs were plated with gold. His skin was copper-colored. It was a younger version of Moonlight Bakura. This was Yami Bakura at age eight, long before he got bitter and evil. He did not have a scar on his cheek.

The boy on the right had white hair too, that brushed over his small shoulders. His face was similair to little Moonlight's. His skin was just a little paler. He wore shorts and a T-shirt with the kanji for "Ryou" written on it. Ryou at age eight. He was strong and healthy. His skin was not pale, as the skin of the older Ryou, but was gold-colored.

The boys had been walking besides eachother, but now went their own way. Little Ryou walked over to Ryou, gave him an enormous smile and allowed him to lean on his shoulder. Little Moonlight went to stand besides Moonlight and let his small hand slip into Moonlight's.

Yami Bakura stared at them. The little boys were not scared. They had a look of "and we will all go down together" on their angellic faces. Little Ryou had slapped an arm around Ryou's leg. Ryou's hand rested on his shoulder. Little Moonlight was leaning with his shoulder against Moonlight's hip. He had an arm crossed in front of his already muscular chest.

The evil Yami did not know what to do. He activated the Ring, but de-activated it again. The percevearance he read in the eyes of the boys confused him. He saw Ryou had that look on his face too. Moonlight, on the other hand, had a look on his face that said: "_You can't beat me_." The four Bakuras confused Yami Bakura, turned his thoughts into a mess.

"OKAY! OKAY! TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT TO TELL ME!"he suddenly screamed. The pointers of the Ring had fallen down. It was not active any more.

"Good."his mother said. "Do you know what happens every time you use the Powers of Darkness you retrieved yesterday?" Yami Bakura shook no. "When you use those powers you will draw energy from the body you are in. When you were still alive that wasn't much of a problem because your body was strong and you did not really know how to use the power. But Ryou's body is weak. Every time you use that power you draw energy from Ryou's body. Ryou's soul will automatically draw energy from your soul in order to feed his body. But your energy is completely different from Ryou's. Ryou has got human energy, but yours exists completely of Darkness. Ryou will slowly get sicker and sicker until his soul is completely filled with darkness."Yami Bakura's mother said. Yami Bakura nervously stepped back. "I don't believe you!"he shouted. His hands trembled. Yami had never seen him that nervous before.

"You don't believe me?"Yami Bakura's mother said. "Then allow us to show you." She gestured with her hand in the direction of Moonlight.

Moonlight spun around one one foot and then fired off one of his bracelets. The sharp, pointy end dug itself into Ryou's chest, right between two ribs. Golden blood began to spray out of the wound. Ryou's eyes turned away and then closed. He fell down without a sound. Mr Bakura let himself fall onto his knees and grabbed the shoulders of his son. He shook him roughly. "RYOU! SAY SOMETHING!"he hysterically cried. Ryou's head rolled around like a rag-doll's. His soul was dead.

In the real world Ryou's eyes opened. They were empty. The eyes of a young man without a soul.

Mr Bakura leapt up. Tears ran down his face. He rushed over to Moonlight and punched him with all his might in the chest. "YOU MURDERER! YOU KILLED MY SON! MY ONLY CHILD!"he screamed. Moonlight's chest was so thick that he barely felt the punches, but the words the Japanese man hurtled at him hurt him badly. He grabbed Mr Bakura's wrists. "NO! YOU NO UNDERSTAND!"he cried in broken Japanese. Mr Bakura was crazy with sadness and tried to wrench his wrists free. "YES, I DO UNDERSTAND! YOU KILLED RYOU!"he yelled. "MY WIFE'S DEAD, MY DAUGHTER IS DEAD, NOW MY SON'S DEAD TOO!" "LISTEN!"Moonlight screamed with such an authority in his voice that Mr Bakura shut up. "Ryou no dead. He come back. If Shadow Soul kills he can bring back."he said, looking right in Mr Bakura's eyes. Mr Bakura collapsed. Moonlight could just catch him, or he would have fallen. "You mean Ryou can be revived?"he asked. Moonlight cocked a brow. "Revived?"he asked, not understanding. "Ryou will be alive?"Mr Bakura asked, rephrasing his sentence. Moonlight nodded fiercely. "Yes. But Ryou not well. Much pain."he said. "Come back cause Ryou pain." Mr Bakura hung with one arm over Moonlight's shoulder. He was absolutely exhausted. He looked at the "corpse" of his son's soul. Blood still ran down the thin chest. Ryou's arms were spread, like he was about to fly away. The bracelet was still stuck between his ribs.

"Now let us show you."Yami Bakura's mother said.

Mist began to flow out of Ryou's nose and half open mouth. It formed a cloud hovering above him. In the cloud they could see two forms appear. It served as a window that showed the future.

Through the window they could see Yami lying on the floor. Yami Bakura was standing over him, a mean grin on his face. He bent over to take the Puzzle off Yami's neck. Yami tried to crawl away from him.

But suddenly the expression on Yami Bakura's face changed completely. His eyes began to bulge. His mouth was wide open, but no cry came from it. Yami looked at him in shock. Yami Bakura's hair fell down and he crashed to the ground, no, Ryou crashed to the ground. His face had an alarming grey color. Yami got on hands and knees and shook him. "BAKURA! SAY SOMETHING! PLEASE, BAKURA!"he cried.

The next moment the window showed a hospitalroom. Ryou was lying in a bed. Stickers were attached to his forehead and chest. An oxigen-tube was inserted into his nose. He did not move a finger. Only his chest rose and fell slowly. Yugi was sitting at his right side, Mr Bakura at his left. Mr Bakura stroked Ryou's hand.

Suddenly Ryou bent his back in a heavy convulsion. He uttered a long moan. The monitor checking his heartbeat produced a chilling "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!" The line on it had flattened. Ryou opened his eyes widely. A rattling sound came from deep inside his throat. A load of nurses burst in, shoving Yugi and Mr Bakura aside. They began to pump on Ryou's chestbone and tried to make him breathe again. Another one of them came in with a defibrilator. She placed two metal discs on Ryou's chest, shouted "Loose!" and sent bolts of electricity through Ryou's frail body. And again. And again... until the doctor stated him dead. Mr Bakura sighed and passed out. The Millennium Ring, that had been lying on the bedside-table, suddenly emanated a bright light. One by one the pointers fell off. The Ring was useless. The Spirit of the Ring was dead.

The mist disappeared. Yami Bakura had been staring at it open-mouthed. He had seen the future. A future that meant a certain death for him. He staggered back, tripped over a rock and fell onto his rear end. He did not care to get up again.

Moonlight knelt down besides Ryou and gently pulled the bracelet out of Ryou's chest. He looked at it in disgust and then crushed it under his heel, with a furious "Ungh!" Mr Bakura had been holding Ryou's hand all the time and it had been numb, but suddenly he felt the fingers curl around his. He saw Moonlight's eyes were radiating a blue light, that fell on the body of his son's soul.

Ryou rolled his head around. He exposed his teeth and sighed. Then he opened his big brown eyes. He tried to sit up, but screamed in pain and fell back again. "Ryou! What's the matter?!"his father cried. Ryou tossed and turned, hands pressed against his face. "My head! Everything hurts!"he yelled. Boiling oil ran through his veins and burned his heart and brains. Moonlight took the trembling boy in his arms. His lay his cool cheek on Ryou's feverish one. "Don't fight the pain."he softly said in Egyptian. "It will soon be over." Mr Bakura looked at the two almost identical boys. Moonlight treated Ryou as if he had known him for years. Almost the way a father would treat his son. "_After all_,"Mr Bakura thought, "_that boy is Ryou's_ _ancestor. In a way he is Ryou's father_." He looked at his hands. "_And mine..._"

"A decision should be made."Yami Bakura's mother suddenly broke silence. Yami Bakura was startled by the sudden sound of her voice and leapt up. "You must decide now, before it's too late." Yami Bakura gulped. "Can't I just keep the powers but not use them?"he asked. His mother shook no. "The existance of those powers within Ryou already draws power from his body."she said. "It will kill him -and you- anyway."

The others watched. They all hoped Yami Bakura would give up the Powers of Darkness and that way, save his own life, and Ryou's. They did not care much about Yami Bakura, of course, but they did care about their friend Bakura-Kun.

Moonlight stood and lay Ryou in the arms of Mr Bakura. He walked over to Touzokuou. They both grabbed their bows and an arrow. They armed the bow, strained the tendons and pointed at something right between Yami Bakura and Ryou.

Suddenly Yami Bakura spread his arms and exposed his chest. He began to laugh insanely. The Millennium Ring thrashed around his neck. Moonlight and Touzokuou pointed their bows at the Yami and released the arrows.

Yami Bakura's laugh was cut off abruptly. Both arrows had hit him in the stomach. Blood squirted out of the wounds. Black blood. Yami Bakura looked down at the arrows and his blood. A horrible, shivering pant escaped his mouth. He had an eerie grin on his face. He fell onto his knees. Blood exploded from his mouth. He did not smile any more. Instead, a loud, reedy scream escaped him. It was the scream of a hurt animal, barely recognisable as Ryou's voice. His body made a weird move and he began to fall back slowly, almost like it was in slow motion. When he hit the floor the soul of the King of Thieves was dead.

Ryou inhaled deeply. The pain in his head had stopped. He felt fine again. The wounds on the bodies of Moonlight and Touzokuou disappeared. Ryou got up and walked over to the body of Yami Bakura. He looked down at the Yami, at the face that was so much like his, but so different too. He looked at the closed eyes and the half open mouth, where the now gold-colored blood was still flowing out of. "Is he-"Ryou began, but suddenly Yami Bakura opened his eyes. Ryou uttered a cry and rushed over to his father as fast as he could.

Yami Bakura got up. He looked at the souls surrounding him. His gaze rested on Ryou for a while. His eyes were brown, as before. Yami Bakura licked the blood off his chin, spun around and dissappeared into the darkness.

"You no stay. Souls grow weaker."Moonlight's pressing voice came. He meant to say the Shadow Realm was draining the souls of their energy. "Leave. Door is open." Mr Bakura walked over to him. Moonlight looked at him. "Who are you?"Mr Bakura asked. Moonlight sighed. "I Shadow Soul. Shadow Souls no exist."he said with a sad smile. He looked a lot like Ryou. "Touzokuou made me no exist." "Do you mean he killed you?"Mr Bakura incredulously asked. Moonlight looked a little helpless. "I... uh..."he hesitated, looked at his mother and let out a stream of Egyptian. His mother smiled. "Moonlight Bakura is who Touzokuou Bakura-Sama would have been if he hadn't gotten bitter."she said. "Shadow Souls are the souls that never even got the chance to exist. Because my son has become a Yami, Moonlight became a Shadow Soul. If Yami Bakura had not become a Yami, Moonlight would not have been here." Moonlight nodded. Mr Bakura grabbed his hand and shook it like a thermometer. "Well, thanks for having saved the life of my son, boy."he blustered, having regained his enthusiasm. Moonlight just smiled and gave Mr Bakura a pat on the back that almost sent the older man to his knees. Then he walked over to Ryou. He lay a hand on Ryou's shoulder. "I live in your heart."he said, tapping with his finger on Ryou's chest. "I in there for eternity." He slapped his arms around the skinny boy and hugged him warmly. Ryou felt safe, like there was a fortress built around him. Moonlight released him and began to gently push him in the direction of the gate that led to the corridoor between the two soulrooms. "Now go."he said. When Ryou spun around he saw Moonlight slowly vanish into the darkness. "No, Moonlight! Wait!"he cried in Egyptian, but Moonlight Bakura was gone. Ryou stood there a little lost. Then he remembered wat Moonlight had said when he touched Ryou's chest. Ryou lay his hand on his heart and could feel it beating strongly. "_Remember you are never alone_."a voice whispered inside his head. Moonlight's voice. Ryou looked up and smiled.

"Come on! We should leave this rotten place as soon as possible!"Tristan urgently said. He had opened the door already, ready to leave. The others followed him, but Yami dawdled a bit. He looked at Yami Bakura's mother and Touzokuou Bakura-Sama, who were still standing there. He looked at the bitter, arrogant face of Touzokuou and recognised Yami Bakura's face in it. "_So the Spirit of the Millennium Ring is the one who killed me and made it possible for me to return as a Yami five-thousand years later_."he thought. "_That's what he meant to say with "I have done terrible things in the past to_ _get my hands on the seven Millennium Items_." Little Moonlight and little Ryou waved at him. Yami hesitatingly waved back and smiled a bit. Then he left the soulroom of the evil collegue Yami and closed the door behind himself.

When they stepped into Ryou's soulroom a bright light was shining. It came from Ryou's avatar. White Magic User Bakura was the avatar that possessed the Power of Life. The light he emanated refilled the souls with their former energy and made them feel warm inside. Ryou walked over to one of the walls of his soulroom. He rubbed it with is hand. It became a portal to the real world. He stepped through it, the others followed.

Yugi, Tea, Tristan, Joey, Mr Bakura, Marik and Odion opened their eyes and got up. Ryou did not open his eyes. He was unconscious and dried out, but there was a vague smile on his lips. Mr Bakura gave him something to drink and carried him home.

A week later the gang would return to Domino City. They were discussing the things that had happened in Mr Bakura's small living-room. "One thing is sure."Mr Bakura bellowed, lying a hand on Ryou's shoulder. "I don't think we'll ever forget what happened a week ago."

"That's was you think."A harsh voice answered. Mr Bakura felt the shoulder of his son stiffen. When he looked at him he looked right in the arrogant face of Yami Bakura. Yami Bakura made his hands form a circle around the Ring. He chuckled as the Ring began to glow. He erased their memories and filled them with events that had never transpired.

He had lost the Power of Darkness, but he had noticed something else. That power he had felt deep inside Ryou's soul, at the moment Ryou had attacked him, if he could get his hands on that...

* * *

End of fic. Tateretaa... (Dutch trumpet-sound) Guess what, I managed to get my hands on a DVD with the episode "Kwaadaardige Geest van de Ring" on it. Huh? What episode? The name is Dutch for "Malignant Spirit of the Ring". The American version is on that DVD, but I didn't watch it yet. I watched the Dutch version and Yami Bakura sounded like a farmer. Really weird. He tried to sound like someone with a low voice, and succeeded, but his voice (the natural voice of the actor) is usually so high that he was forced to mispronounce a few words. He said "bescherrremeuh" ("perrowtect") for example, in stead of "beschermen" ("protect"). And Yugi's acting was poor, as usual. Dutch Yugi is a poor actor. His voice is too high (sigh). Yami Bakura has got three different voices. His Duel Kingdom voice, his early BattleCity voice and his BattleShip voice. The DK voice sounds a little harsh and low. The BC voice sounds deep and not harsh. The BS voice is not very low, but extremely harsh. That's my favorite voice.

Thank Ra Yami Bakura will stop singing in the future when he uses him Millennium Ring.

And he gave a load of good screams in that episode. When the Reaper of the Cards destroyed him he screamed "AAAAAAAAAHHH-AAAAAAAAHHHHHRRRRRGGGGGLLL!" with every letter pronounced. The only Yu-Gi-Oh!-character able to give better screams than Yami Bakura is Ryou. I wish I could let you hear, but I can't. Dutch Marik gives the worst screames, together with Yugi.

My God, what have I been talking about?

Whatever. Back to business.

Marik: (is sitting up the lamp) SAVE ME! YAMI, YOU'RE THE PHARAOH! DO SOMETHING!

Yami Bakura: (tries to grab him) Come down! I'M HUNGRY!

Yami: Spirit of the Millennium Ring! I, King Yami, Pharaoh of Egypt, command you to leave Marik alone!

Yami Bakura: DOWN WITH THE PHARAOH! (drools all over the place)

Yami: (trips and falls)

Yami Bakura: OO Speaking of coincidences!

Lamp: (wire breaks, lamp comes down)

Marik: Whoa!

Lamp: (knocks Yami Bakura out) CRACK!

Yami Bakura: Aargh... (faints) XX

Moonlight: OO"

Ryou-Ran: That's the second lamp that comes down. (draws a new one and attaches it to the ceiling) Will you stop climbing into lamps, Marik?

Marik: Uhhh.... oooookkkkaaayyyy...

Ryou-Ran: (to Mr Bakura) I think Marik's battery should be replaced by a new one. This one is dead.

Marik: AAAAAAAAAARGH! (drops dead)

Yami: OO"

Touzokuou: WHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Odion: OH NO! MASTER MARIK!

Mr Bakura: That was just in a matter of speaking, Marik.

Marik: (hops up) You should have told me so.

Ryou-Ran: Ah, guess who's there? Ryou's back!

Ryou: (stumbles in, hair is a mess) H-hello...

Ryou-Ran: And, Ryou, was it fun?

Ryou: (is exhausted) I'm exhausted. (slumps down in a chair, falls asleep)

Ryou-Ran: Aw, look at that...

I'm going to start writing a new fic right away! TO DAH LAPTOP! (runs away, humming the intro of the "Thunderbirds")

Please review.


End file.
